War and Counterrevolution

To remind yourself about the chronology of this radical phase of the Revolution, you might want to review the lecture slides on the Radical Phase by clicking hereLink opens in a new window.

 

There are far more studies of the French Revolution than there are the French Counterrevolution. Beginning in the 1990s, however, historians began taking the Counterrevolution more seriously. It remains an understudied aspect of the period, and even among historians who do give it attention take wildly different approaches to it. Some make distinctions between anti-revolution and counterrevolution. Others focus on ideas, seeing the Counterrevolution as the continuation of the conservative Counter-Enlightenment. Still others see the Counterrevolution as driven by political, economic and even geopolitical interests. There is some debate as to whether the Revolution and Counterrevolution were simultaneous and dialectical, or whether the Counterrevolution arose because of the particular choices revolutionaries made. In his The Furies (listed in further reading below), Arno Mayer states that 'there is no revolution without counterrevolution'. Not all historians would agree. Some would argue that the revolutionary mindset tended to see enemies everywhere and inflated what was merely opposition or resistance into an existential threat. What is indisputable, however, is that a Counterrevolution did come into being, even if historians don't agree on when, why and to what effect.

Core primary readings

* Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France,

Read either Baker, ORFR, 428-444. (Library)

OR

The version on Moodle, pp. 17-35

 

* Mason and Rizzo, FRDC, ch 7, docs. 37-41.

 

Core secondary readings

CHOOSE one of the two following readings. If you like ideas and intellectual history, you'll prefer the McMahon. If you are interested in revolutionary violence and the politics behind war, you may prefer the Mayer.

D. McMahon, Enemies of the Enlightement (2001), chps 2-3.

OR

A. Mayer, 'Externalization of the French Revolution: The Napoleonic Wars', in The Furies: Violence and Terror in the French and Russian Revolutions (2000), chapter 14, pp. 533-606.

 

Background

Popkin, A Short History of FR, chp 5

 

Questions

1. Was the Counterrevolution a foregone conclusion in 1789-90? Or was there the possibility of creating a politics based on loyal opposition?

2. How much of the Revolution's radicalisation can be attributed to the Counterrevolution and how much of it was produced by Revolutionary ideals?

3. Was the Counterrevolution essentially an ideological stance or was it driven by political and economic interests?

4. Do you see Burke -- often referred to as the father of modern conservatism -- to be an objective observer of the tragic dynamics of the Revolution or do you see him as a political propagandist seeking to embolden the Counterrevolution? Put another way, was he a philosopher or a political creature?

 

Further Reading

Religion/Counterenlightenment

T. Tackett, Religion, Revolution and Regional Culture in Eighteenth-century France: The Ecclesiastical Oath of 1791 (1986)

A. Mayer, The Furies: Violence and Terror in the French and Russian Revolutions (2000), see chps 2, 7, 9.

Intellectual history and reception

H.T. Dickinson (ed.), Britain and the French Revolution, 1789-1815 (Basington, 1989)

S. Deane, The French Revolution and Enlightenment in England, 1789-1832 (Cambriddge, 1988)

Barton Fridedman, Fabricating history: English writers on the French Revolution (Princeton, 1988)

M. Butler, Burke, Paine, Godwin and the Revolution controversy (Cambridge, 1984)

Alfred Cobban, The debate on the French Revolution (London, 1959)

I. Hampsher-Monk, 'British Radicalism and the Anti-Jacobins', in Mark Goldie and Robert Wokler (eds.), The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century political Thought (Cambridge, 2006).

 

War

D. A. Bell, The First Total War: Napoleon’s Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It (2007)

A. Mayer, The Furies: Violence and Terror in the French and Russian Revolutions (2000), on war see ch 7, 9 ,14.

T.C.W Blanning, The Origin of the French Revolutionary Wars (1986)

T.C.W.Blanning, The French Revolutionary Wars, 1787-1802 (1996)

O. Connelly, Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon, 1792-1815 (2005)

J. Black, British Foreign Policy in an Age of Revolution, 1783-93 (1994)

P. Schroeder, The Transformation of European Politics, 1763-1848 (1994)

T. Hippler, Citizens, Soldiers and National Armies: Military Service in France and Germany, 1789-1830 (2007)

D. Moran, & A. Waldron (eds), The People in Arms. Military Myth and National Mobilization since the French Revolution (2003).

R.R. Palmer, The Age of the Democratic Revolution (2 vols., 1959-64)

S.F. Scott, The Response of the Royal Army to the French Revolution (1978)

J.A. Lynn, The Bayonets of the Republic: Motivation and Tactics in the Army of Revolutionary France, 1791-4 (1984)

J.P. Bertaud, The Army of the French Revolution: From Citizen-Soldiers to Instrument of Power (1988)

A. Forrest, The Soldiers of the French Revolution (1990)

A. Forrest, Conscripts and Deserters: The Army and French Society during the

Revolution and Empire (1989)

H.G. Brown, War, Revolution and the Bureaucratic State: Politics and Army Administration in France, 1791-99 (1995)

K. Alder, Engineering the Revolution: Arms and Enlightenment in France, 1763-1815 (1997)

W.S. Cormack, Revolution and Political Conflict in the French Navy, 1789-94 (1995)

G. Ellis, ‘Napoleon Comes to Power: Democracy and dictatorship in revolutionary France, 1795–1804’, FH, 16 (2002)

Emigration
G. Gengembre, ‘Le Paris révolutionnaire des Mémoires d’Outre-Tombe’ PV.
J. Godechot, The Counter-Revolution: Doctrine and Action, 1789-1804 (1971)
K. Carpenter, Refugees of the French Revolution: Émigrés in London, 1789-1802 (1999)
K. Carpenter & P. Mansel (eds), The French Émigrés and the Struggle against the Revolution, 1789-1815 (1999)
S. Burrows, French Exile Journalism and European Politics, 1792-1814 (2000)
P. Mansel, The Court of France, 1789-1830 (1988)
P. Mansel, Louis XVIII (1981)
E. Sparrow, Secret Service. British Agents in France, 1792-1815 (1999)
H. Mitchell, The Underground War against Revolutionary France: The Missions of William Wickam, 1794-1800 (1965)
C. Duckworth, The d’Antraigues Phenomenon (1986)
M. Elliott, Partners in Revolution: The United Irishmen and France (1982)
D. Greer, The Incidence of the Emigration during the French Revolution (1951).
L. Boroumand, ‘Emigration and the Rights of Man: French Revolutionary Legislators Equivocate’, JMH, 72 (2000)

The Vendée
D. Sutherland, ‘Religion and rural revolt in the French Revolution: an overview’, in J.M. Bak & G. Benecke (eds), Religion and Rural Revolt (1984)
D. Sutherland, ‘The Revolution and the rural community in eighteenth-century Brittany’, P&P, 62 (1974)
D. Sutherland, ‘The social origins of Counter-Revolution in western France’, P&P,
99 (1983)
C. Tilly, The Vendée (1964)
H. Mitchell, ‘The Vendée and Counter-Revolution’, FHS, 5 (1968)
D. Sutherland, The Chouans: The Social Origins of Popular Counter-Revolution in Upper Brittany, 1770-96 (1982)
A. Goodwin, ‘Counter-revolution in Brittany: the royalist conspiracy of the marquis de la Rouerie, 1791-3’, BJRL, 39 (1957)
M. Hutt, Chouannerie and Counter-Revolution, Puisaye, the Princes and the British Government in the 1790s (1983)
J.C. Martin, La Vendée et la France (1987)